We wore them for the whole of our Nova Scotia trip last fall. No jacket mod necessary. I don't notice when I'm wearing it... if I ride without it, I notice.

I wear it whenever I go for "a ride". If I'm moving the bike to the other side of the street for alternate side parking, I don't wear it. If I'm riding to do errands in the city, I don't wear it, but if I'm getting out the pants, and the boots, it's on as well.

We wore them for the whole of our Nova Scotia trip last fall. No jacket mod necessary. I don't notice when I'm wearing it... if I ride without it, I notice.

I wear it whenever I go for "a ride". If I'm moving the bike to the other side of the street for alternate side parking, I don't wear it. If I'm riding to do errands in the city, I don't wear it, but if I'm getting out the pants, and the boots, it's on as well.

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Thanks for the response

I really enjoyed your Nova Scotia ride report BTW
Looking forward to the rest of this one as well

We passed several of these. They aren't chicken-coops. The roosters are shackled to their tents. What's going on here? My best guess is that these are suspected terrorists. A little Guantanamo for chickens. Can anyone else explain?

So. We've read all the other TAT ride reports. We've seen the photos. We've heard the stories. We saw Sam's warning. We had specific instructions from Gaprunr towalk the bikes across...

But we (I) still wasn't sure which one(s) were really slick and which weren't.

We had several water crossing which I had walked across, not slippery, then ridden across fine. Had we passed the bad ones? Were we just so early in the season that the algae hadn't grown the biofilm yet? Had one or more of the obviously new bridges we went over eliminated the slick-bottomed danger?

Parked for scouting purposes:

So I walked in, it seemed grippy. I checked to the left, to the right...
Right seemed better. There was gray rock which seemed fine, and brownish, which seemed slippery.

I picked my line, stood on the pegs, and started across. No problem.

Until I was almost all the way across... I cracked the throttle to get a little momentum to climb up the far bank and BAM!:

Sooo close!...

Walking it out... oh, the shame. Such hubris... how could I have thought I was different.

No damage to the bike, or body. Boots probably saved me a twisted or badly bruised ankle. Wish the helmet could have saved my ego the same.

Yes, it is that slick... My tire tracks:

Lesson learned, my punishment was to walk Blueberry across.

We carried on with high spirits, good morale, nice weather, no damage. Didn't even have to break out Mr. Happy Puppet. LDF hamming it up:

Very cool, thanks for clearing that up. We didn't see anyone, but I hear you.

seeyuh said:

no no no no! here's some of what you missed, thru no fault of yer own:
but it takes years of research and riding to find it..

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Please don't get me wrong: I know there's tons of great riding all around there... I'm just saying if I had to drive to Atlanta, for a conference or something... I'd love to take 3 years and follow the yellow line... not practical; The interstate... I'd need a lobotomy. So the BRP is the best compromise... no years of research to find... it was just so easy to slip into a zone on that road. Anyway, it's all good, next time I'm down that way I'll be looking you up for a tour!

We crossed the Tennessee river, which we learned later in the evening runs backwards.

Small towns in rural america seem to be turning into ghost towns... I know it's been going on for a long time, but it left an impression seeing it first-hand.

We passed up the gas here, because I thought there would be easy gas in Saltillo where we were planning on spending the night.

Well, there was gas in saltillo, just not where GPS said:

It was down at the marina / trailer park / campground / restaurant / general store / bait shop. It was the only place open it seemed in the whole town. We got a campsite for $7... free laundry. Walked up to the restaurant and was served by a nice waitress with bad teeth. A shame.

Our day's stats:

This was where I was glad we brought the camp chairs . It was a nice site on the river, as long as you photographed only from certain angles, if you know what I mean.

It was an interesting cast of characters living there. We spent the night listening to barges plying the river:

Imagining they were riverboats 150 years ago, but in the morning we saw they weren't... oh well.

TN was great, especially for LDF to get used to the DRZ... but it felt good to get off our asses and up on the pegs.

Water crossings not so snotty-slippery:

We've lost the power lines along the road... getting more and more remote.

If you do the TAT, you'll likely run into this fellow:

Everyone seems to stop here for gas. He knows about the trail. Told us the previous crew had passed by about two weeks previously. Warned us not to ride the backroads after dark on account of the druggies. Methamphetamine mostly. Hoped we weren't going to try to make it as far as the Casino, cause it was getting late. His son is serving in Iraq. Give our regards if you meet him. Good people.

Turns out it wasn't. Interesting, these roads are seldom travelled, and the signs rarely correlated with the reality. More examples later.

After long days riding, and camping on particularly hard ground at the trailer park, we considered finding a motel near the interstate. They were all dodgey, and the weather was nice, so instead, we stopped at a grocery, picked up some provisions, and headed to Sardis Lake State park. No one camping there. Just beautiful.

11 hours later, making good milage, we racked up some cushion beyond our 200mi/day goal:

I am totally green with envy! As a geometry/architecture major, I understand the Mobius metaphor completely, and believe you may have touched on the ultimate explanation of why/how we ride. Secondly, my wife and I have been planning the same sort of ride/store/fly,repeat trip for our retirement. The only thing we're going to do differently, is, since I ride a Harley, leave the bike at an HD dealer for service, and then come back and pick it up , days, weeks, months later when it's time to resume the strip. I figure the entire trip, including time at home, will take almost a year!

Congratulations on a great theorum, a great plan, and a great ride report, so far!

Thanks for the feedback, California. Good luck on your version of the same, and let me know if we can be of any help, or offer any advice. I've been learning a lot in the process of planning and riding, but it's probably mostly stuff that other people already know... like what to do when you have to stand down a bull in the middle of the road .

Chris: those are NOT titanium coffee cups, though the coffee pot is . They're just the Coleman peak 1 double-walled mugs, with the handles knocked off. I did that because they pack easier, and since it's double-walled, it stays cool on the outside anyway, so you don't really need the handle.

Oh, and it saved 28 grams.

Questor: How's Willy (the whale... not that one!)? Where've you been hiding? Look us up if you ever make it down to the city, eh? PM me your email and I'll send you the gear list file if you want... then you can edit it for yourself rather than creating it from scratch.

And for all who asked, RE: the Andy Strapz pannierz on the dirt bagz racks...

I think the dirt bagz are great. (LDF doesn't like the zippers on hers as much as the roll-top on mine, though) Why did I go with the Andy Strapz? I liked the expandability and even though we were traveling light, I thought it would be useful for at least one of us to be able to stuff a six-pack, or a watermelon in a side bag if we stopped at a grocery store a few miles from our end-of-the-day destination. I also like the top-loading, and I think they're a bit more waterproof than the dirtbagz.

The install of the Andy Strapz on the dirt bagz racks is quite simple. I don't know if I specifically have photos showing it. The bags have straps which velcro together over the top of the seat. Then you attach a second strap to the front and rear of the dirt bagz racks (I used the Rok Straps), and clip it across the lower mid-section of each Expedition Pannier to keep it tight and prevent it bouncing up and down when you go over bumps.

The Dirt bagz racks serve merely as stand-offs to prevent the bags from moving horizontally in towards the rear wheel. they're not actually providing any vertical support.

Hi Dr. Rock,
while we are already talking equipment: I have a DR-Z with Clarke tank as well and I'm looking for a tankbag that can take my DSLR. I guess yours is from Wolfman. Would a DSLR fit in there (preferably with some room left for appropriate padding)?

:huh I just found this report. Dave & Francine, it was a pleasure having u both here. I just told Roxanne to look up this report as I know it will inspire her as well as myself to do an extended trip together this summer. . Great RR & pic's. Keep in touch. Rick

We have the wolfman small expedition tankbags. I have the acerbis E tank adapted for the S. I'm 6'3", so my crotch clears the bag and it sits well secured between my legs when I'm standing, no problem. For LDF, however, for her height, and the way the clarke tank slopes up, that for her to ride standing, we had to place the bag way up on the gas cap. Doable, but the bag lost a little stability. She had just her raingear in there, (mine's heavier with tools), so it wasn't such a big deal for dirt roads, but if we get into some technical riding for any great length of time, we'll have to see how it works.

The bag has the capacity for a SLR, probably a lens as well. I'd test-fit it with a borrowed bag if possible first, especially with the Clarke tank given the weight of the contents and your leg length to see if it's acceptable.

Mandarax said:

Hi Dr. Rock,
while we are already talking equipment: I have a DR-Z with Clarke tank as well and I'm looking for a tankbag that can take my DSLR. I guess yours is from Wolfman. Would a DSLR fit in there (preferably with some room left for appropriate padding)?

:huh I just found this report. Dave & Francine, it was a pleasure having u both here. I just told Roxanne to look up this report as I know it will inspire her as well as myself to do an extended trip together this summer. . Great RR & pic's. Keep in touch. Rick

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Hey Rick! I've been distracted from writing the report by some nice weather this weekend... I'm back on it though. Hope your trip west is going well... you're in WA now, no?